Chapter 365: Transformation

Ink-like black light invaded Hesusu's entire body; he felt as if thousands upon thousands of ants were scurrying through his flesh and blood. The intense pain made his whole body tremble, and the veins on his skin bulged out one by one.

Born into royalty and having lived a life of privilege since childhood, Hesusu had never imagined that one day he would suffer such inhuman torture.

He did not know how much time had passed; perhaps it was ten minutes, perhaps half an hour.

Not until Mofisite revealed a look of exhaustion, and not until the radiance of the bead in his hand gradually dimmed and finally dissipated completely, did Hesusu collapse onto the ground like a pile of mud.

He panted heavily with exhaustion, yet in his eyes, there was no longer the previous terror, but rather an added sense of devotion.

Mofisite laughed heartily and dispersed the sound-insulation barrier.

He glanced at the lusterless bead in his hand and sighed, "This time, for Hesusu, the energy in the bead has been almost entirely consumed."

Black Wound's voice was extremely cold, "After all, it is the highest 'Abyssal' level of conversion; the consumption is naturally greater."

As he spoke, he glanced at the madman beside him; the other party was different from Hesusu, belonging to the 'Frost' level of conversion, which counted as intermediate.

The difference between the two is that the Abyssal level retains all memories and even habits, merely twisting the soul.

Whereas the Frost level only retains partial memories to varying degrees; it is not as agile as the Abyssal level and requires a period of time to cultivate complex thinking and consciousness.

As the public representatives of Holy Storm in the Auduin Kingdom, they naturally would not let Hesusu appear very unnatural.

Mofisite smiled and reached out to Hesusu, who was sitting on the ground: "Hesusu, welcome to officially joining us and becoming a member of Holy Storm!"

The corners of Hesusu's mouth curled up slightly; although he was somewhat exhausted, he felt quite good.

"This is my honor!"

He reached out his hand and was pulled up by the other party.

The current Hesusu could no longer tell whether he was still Auduin, or even if he was dead or alive.

However, none of this mattered anymore.

"Next, let us start from Yueguang Valley and pry open this kingdom!"

Mofisite said with a smile, "But before that, we need to have enough subordinates."

Although the energy in the bead in his hand had been consumed quite a bit, it was still enough to perform Frost-level conversions.

"The knight who just went out seems to have decent strength."

The corners of Hesusu's mouth curled up, revealing a smile that looked somewhat cruel, "To be able to become a member of Holy Storm, this is his honor."

He took a deep breath, walked slowly to the door, and pushed it open.

Not far outside the door, Second Knight Order Regiment Commander Yidelisa was standing there, looking up at the sky in boredom; he was very curious about what the lord had been talking about with those three people inside for so long.

"Yidelisa."

Hearing this call, Yidelisa came back to his senses, "My Lord, what are your orders?"

"I have something to arrange for you to do; come in."

Hesusu acted just as he usually did, with nothing appearing amiss.

Yidelisa did not have any suspicions at all and quickly trotted into the hall.

To prevent Hesusu from doing anything crazy, Luoning specifically stayed in Anbian City for a very long time.

However, to his surprise, things had been quiet over at Yueguang Valley.

Let alone sending people to search or negotiate with Luoning, even the merchants traveling between the two places had not heard of the deaths of Ramsey and Angusi.

It was as if the two people Luoning had killed were insignificant nobodies.

But in reality, even Angusi held a significant position in Yueguang Valley.

This could not help but make Luoning start to guess: Could it be that Hesusu's previous arrogance had all relied on Ramsey?

Now that Ramsey was dead, could he only tuck his tail between his legs and not dare to come and provoke Luoning again?

Luoning did not know why this was the case, and the merchants going from Anbian City to Yueguang Valley had not brought back any valuable intelligence.

However, calm is calm; it meant fewer troubles.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was December 20th.

Swish!

A sharp, pale flame shot out, bombarding the mountain wall in front.

The solid stone mountain was as fragile as tofu at this moment, and under the bombardment of the Scorching Ray, it was directly bored through.

Luoning looked at the effect before him with great satisfaction.

After repeated practice during this period, he was already able to execute the secret technique Scorching Ray with one hundred percent success.

Besides this, his combat level had also improved a lot through sparring with Ruidar.

Whoosh, whoosh~

The sound of wings flapping came from far to near, and soon two Griffins landed in front of Luoning.

Jumping down from them were none other than Ruidar and Maiken.

With the help of Kaierluosi, they had successfully subdued the mounts of Ramsey and Angusi, and now they could ride Griffins to travel back and forth between various places.

In this way, whether something happened in Anbian City, or in Jushi City or Chishan Town, Ruidar and Maiken could quickly make contact and provide support.

The only pity was that Maiken was currently still just a Silver Knight.

If he were also a Meteor Knight, Luoning's concerns about this side would be greatly reduced.

Fortunately, once the early morning of today passed, the quantity of his Energy Essence would be enough to allow Aierlong to advance, at which point he would be able to raise Maiken's strength.

"Tomorrow I will return to Wubei Territory to prepare to attend the Marquis's birthday banquet."

Luoning gave some instructions to Ruidar and Maiken.

Time passes so quickly; in the blink of an eye, a year has gone by.

In this year, Luoning and his followers had not only walked out of Shanlin Town but had already dispersed to garrison various places.

The territory was larger, and there were more people.

However, although the original Knights have dispersed, some things must continue, such as the Martial Arts Tournament previously scheduled to be held at the end of each year.

It is still necessary to continue holding this kind of activity, which can increase competitiveness and, to a certain extent, enhance a sense of belonging, cohesion, and combat effectiveness.

Wubei Territory, Jushi City, and Anbian City will hold them separately.

For this reason, Luoning allocated a total of five thousand gold coins to Ruidar and Maiken.

Of course, the activity prizes are only a small part; the bulk is used to maintain their daily salary payments, recruit more Professional Knights, and other such aspects.

Besides this, Luoning also made appointments regarding the arrangements for Jushi Territory.

Simply put, Ruidar can inquire about and participate in all affairs here, large or small, including the ability to mobilize the newly formed Knight Squad in Jushi City.

His status is equivalent to that of a Frontier Official.

Maiken is mainly responsible for the military affairs of Jushi City and Chishan Town; if there are any issues he cannot decide on, he can consult Ruidar nearby.

"Although everything in Yueguang Valley seems normal, do not let your guard down. Both the Fifth Knight Order and our own Knight Squad must strengthen their training," Luoning instructed.

"Rest assured, my lord, we will always maintain vigilance regarding Yueguang Valley!"

Ruidar said: "I have already instructed Sangzhuo to carefully interrogate people coming and going from Yueguang Valley, and at the same time, we are screening the remnants of Yueguang Valley left in Anbian City. If there is any intelligence, I will notify you immediately."

Luoning had just arrived in Anbian City when Ramsey followed right behind to assassinate him; no one would believe that no one had tipped him off.

It is just that rooting out the spies of Yueguang Valley is a complex and long process.

Early the next morning, Luoning set off for Wubei Territory riding Kaierluosi.

Before leaving, he invested the remaining 72 points of Energy Essence into Maiken, raising the latter's level progress to Silver Grade (590/1500).

When traveling away from home, being one point stronger means having one more point of strength for self-preservation.

Before noon, Luoning returned to Zhaozebao.

At this moment, the year-end Martial Arts Tournament was being held lively on the Training Ground next to the castle. As it was the farming off-season, many Free Citizens and even passing Caravans had gathered around to watch.

With last year's experience, this year's Wubei Territory Martial Arts Tournament proceeded very smoothly.

Luoning watched from afar for a while, then had Jialun go to notify Aierlong that the first Level 8 Transcendental of Wubei Territory was about to be born. (End of chapter)